KDB IT News

We’ve launched our brand new website www.kdbit.co.nz. The site has information about the type of IT related services that we offer and will also include articles on handy IT tips and our newsletter. What do you think of the website? Drop Ahmed an email on ahmed@kdbit.co.nz

Test your Internet Speed

Want to find out what your current connection speed is? There are many sites that can test your connection speed such as that provided by NZ DSL. Go to NZ DSL to test your speed.

New Zealand Internet News: Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) and what it means to you

Some of our clients have been experiencing slow internet speeds on DSL and we have been looking at what other options there are in the market. There are few services that provide dedicated speeds such as fibre and UNS but the new services that are emerging from Local Loop Unbundling have caught our interest.

So What?

Legislation was passed by the government to allow Internet providers such as Orcon access to the telephone exchanges allowing them to install their own equipment and provide internet services independent of Telecom. Telecom previously had exclusive access to telephone exchanges which limited competition. This is what is known as Local Loop Unbundling

LLU allows increased competition which will benefit both businesses and consumers. Orcon has launched the next generation ADSL2+ network which is the first of the services that have arrived post LLU. It provides internet speeds of up to 24mbps download and up to 1mbs upload. That’s up to three times faster than standard DSL. The service is currently only in certain Auckland suburbs but is continuously increasing their service range by unbundling more telephone exchanges The service is only available for the consumer market at this stage with business packages planned for release towards the end of this year.

You can read more about Orcon's ADSL2+ services.

It is important to note however that these speeds are the maximum and not guaranteed speeds. This means that the effective speed will depend on factors like who else is using your connection, the number of users that are currently connected to your local exchange and your distance from the exchange

Windows Vista

Since the release of Vista there have been many discussions on whether Vista has been a success or a failure. Sale figures released by Microsoft show millions of copies sold worldwide but critics argue that the vast majority are due to the sale of new PCs that have Vista installed by default. Some internet based reports indicate that the sale of boxed products of Windows Vista were almost 60% less than their XP predecessor during each product’s first six months on store shelves.

Businesses staying away From Vista

Like most new operating system releases many businesses are stay away from deploying vista early to avoid many of the potential problems that are part of any new release. An example would be driver and business software incompatibilities with Vista. Most of these will depend on the vendors releasing updated versions of their software to fix any incompatibilities. This takes time.

There are a number of reasons specific to Vista that would prevent businesses getting anywhere close to Vista:

• For most businesses Vista does not introduce any "significant" enhancements to the operating system
• Vista is also a “heavier” operating system and requiring more memory and processing power which has ruled out the option of upgrading many existing PCs to Vista
• The existing platform of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 has proved to be a solid and reliable platform

Being IT geeks we upgraded all our PCs to Vista Business to test the new software and get a feel for it and this is what we’ve found so far:

• It is slower! Our machines typically have 1GB of memory and a decent processor but we’ve noticed Vista to be much slower than XP on the same box
• Copying files over the network is slower. It has been claimed that this will be fixed with installing Service Pack 1 and the speeds improved after the installation but it is still slower than with Windows XP
• Some of our programs would not work with Vista. We had to wait to get a Vista compatible version and we are still waiting for the updated versions of some programs.

What has been your experience with Vista? It would be great to hear how others have found it. Email me on ahmed@kdbit.co.nz

No more Windows XP after 30th of June says Microsoft.... Well almost

From 30th June 2008 OEM Manufacturers like Dell and HP will no longer be able to order Windows XP and so all PCs will be shipped with Vista. OEM manufacturers currently offer both operating systems with their products

Don’t worry if you are an XP fan though! There are still ways where you can get Windows XP if you purchase Windows Vista business or Ultimate. These versions have the right to "downgrade" the system to Windows XP Pro (you can no longer obtain XP Home edition). If you are buying a new PC be sure to check that you can downgrade and of course you will need to check that you can get the Windows XP CDs

Ahmed's Green IT Corner

The widespread use of technology in general is having an increasing affect on the environment in many ways such as the tons of electronic waste or E-Waste that is dumped in landfills every year or the increasing energy demand to power up all our gadgets. Myself and the team at KDB IT are really concerned about the environment and so we will be dedicating this space in our newsletter on tips and tricks to reduce our "carbon footprint"

You Search.... They Grow Trees!

An interesting site I came across is the search engine Ecocho that claims to fight climate change. The site states that for every 1000 searches performed through their site they in return will plant two trees. The search results are actually provided by Yahoo! and Ecocho pay for the trees through the ads on their site. The idea started in Australia and they have recently launched their service in NZ - www.ecocho.co.nz.

It was previously able to provide search results through Google but it seems they had issues and Google has withdrawn their services

Results so far show they have planted almost 4500 – all in Australia. To prove that they are actually planting trees they have contracted KPMG (an International firm that provides auditing and other professional services) to perform regular audits. The site even tells you where the trees are planted!

So if want to help the environment in a small way and you don’t mind the aussies having more trees then start searching and growing.

Recycled Printer Cartridges

Recycled cartridges are generally 30% cheaper than brand new cartridge with the same level of quality and because they are recycled using them is good for the environment too. Before we recommend them to our clients we have currently sourced a supplier and are trialing two recycled printer cartridges for one of our HP printers.

If we are happy with the quality we will help you source them. We’ve arranged for all KDB IT Consulting clients get a special discount as well. I’ll update you with our results in the next newsletter!